Kokoro moon Volume One Number Five

KOKO'S 0 R N E by Tsuneko Kokubo R Grow Your Own Garlic 6" clay pot 1/2 cup (pea) gravel 8 cups clean potting soil l clove of garlic (pick largest one) Fill clay pot with gravel first, then soil. Make a hole in the centre 2 inches deep. Plant garlic with root end (yin end) (fat end) down.

Cover with soil. Cup your palms over it and say "grow" (kindly).

Place pot by window (light). Water and feed when necessary. Yields l head of garlic. Transplant outdoors if you can in the Spring (6 - 9 months maturation - should sprout in a week or two). If you don't have a cat to pet. this is the next best thing.

Garlic Appetizer

Taiko in Canada

by John Greenaway Although most people in Vancouver have heard of taiko by this time, it is a relative new-comer on the perfonning arts scene. In fact. when Katari Taiko first fonned 12 years ago it wasn't for the purpose of perfonning at all, but rather as an opportunity for a group of friends to get together once or twice a week to have a good time while at the same time exploring something from their Asian heritage. It quickly grew, however, to something bigger and with far greater impact than anyone could have imagined. Now, largely due to the influence of Katari Taiko, there are eight taiko groups across Canada - one each in Edmonton. Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal, and two each in Toronto and Vancouver.

The reasons for its popularity are evident to anyone who has seen a taiko perfonnance. With its integration of movement and rhythm, a taiko performance has a kinetic energy that reaches out and grabs people, setting up vibrations that resonate through-out one's body.

While it is enjoyable for the audience, it is equally, if not more, en­ joyable for the people playing the drums - something that comes across very clearly to those watching. T he fact that it so readily ac­ cessible has allowed the rapid acceptance and growth of taiko as an art fonn and it has come to represent. for many people, the pub­ lic face of "Asian-North American culture� I use quotation marks because, although it is traditionally a Japanese form of music, it has been embraced by many Chinese Canadians as well as by the Japanese Canadian community. In the U.S., where there is a much larger Japanese American community, there tends to be less mixing of the two cultures.

There are several reasons for the popularity of taiko among third and fourth generation Asian Canadians. For those of us of Asian heritage (half a heritage in my case) who have trouble relati ng to Take one head of garlic and place in a small shallow chafing dish such arcane activities as flower arranging or the tea ceremony, with l/4" deep extra virgin olive oil. Bake in oven for 20-2$ minutes taiko offers a very physical and expressive outlet for our feelings something akin to martial arts without the martial part. Another at 350-375 F. Eat like artichokes. attraction, to many of us, is the fact that. by its very nature, taiko breaks a lot of stereotypes of Asian perfonners and Asians in gen­ One head per serving--great for body and soul, but not friends! © eral. Instead of the demur, kimonoed figure gliding silently across a bamboo mat. here you have a group of crazed individuals express­ ing feelings of joy, rage, and streng th with a vigour that belies the "inscrutable" label so often affixed to my "kind� I don't intend this at all as a put-down of the more traditional Japanese art fonns - it's just that, for those of us brought up in North America, they don't have a lot of relevance in our lives. T hat said, some of the best A POEM shows I have seen are the ones that mix the more melodic and meditative fonns such as the shakuhachi and dance with taiko's ki­ netic energy. it's sunny today. byZvevdana

i want to play.. but i am tired.

joseph kiyoshi hirabayashi Page 10

Kokoro Moon

I have been playi ng taiko for 12 years now and it has been an excit­ ing and rewarding time. Over the years I have been able to witness, first hand, the growth of taiko across Canada - truly a cultural phenomenon that has reached out beyond the community and touched people across the continent. 0